Southern Guild Stakes Its Claim in Tribeca

Trevyn and Julian McGowan tend to make life-changing decisions quickly. After more than two decades away from Cape Town, the creative couple—Trevyn had built a successful career in interiors, while Julian masterminded sets for West End productions—departed London for a house six hours outside the South African capital. In the early 2000s, South Africa’s collectible design scene had yet to coalesce, but Trevyn had begun sourcing works from the region and soon developed a deep connection to its community of makers. They founded their gallery, Southern Guild, in 2008, and steadily expanded its footprint into a 32,000-square-foot campus that provides artists with crucial access to ceramic kilns, painting studios, and bronze foundries. The model resonated—they soon began representing such prestigious artists as Zizipho Poswa, Rich Mnisi, and Andile Dyalvane, all united in a shared commitment to process and making.

The same razor-sharp intuition that led them to South Africa also ended up taking them abroad—after only two visits to Los Angeles, the duo committed to opening an outpost in East Hollywood in 2024. The opening coincided with a surge of blue-chip gallery arrivals eager to stake a claim in the city’s burgeoning market. Though Southern Guild distinguished itself as one of the few Africa-founded galleries with a physical presence in the United States, the timing also proved difficult. Writers and actors strikes, protests around immigration policy, and devastating wildfires marked much of the gallery’s tenure from the moment the lease was signed. 

After strong showings at the Armory Show and Frieze in New York, Julian urged Trevyn to reconnect with a broker there whose contact he came across years earlier. Though hesitant, she agreed to see three properties on a whim. One, a cavernous ground-floor space in a 19th-century heritage building in Tribeca, stood apart owing to its preserved cast-iron columns, 17-foot ceilings, and curious history as a former haberdashery. “We could immediately imagine how to animate it and how artists might respond to it,” Trevyn tells Galerie. Intrigued, they signed the lease and set plans in motion to relocate from Los Angeles, which closed in January. 

The new location, which opened this week, delivers on the promise of scale and drama. While its square footage mirrors that of Los Angeles, the Tribeca outpost’s ceilings rise nearly twice as high, its abundant volume dramatically transforming how work exists within. The extra height affords artists room to pursue giant installations and push their work to unprecedented scales, whether presented in one of the three interior rooms or throughout the entire gallery. “There’s a grandeur in that,” Trevyn says. “The scale is transformative. We can present large, ambitious works in a way that does them justice. The height is always what’s good for us, for the drama.” 

Its two inaugural solo exhibitions, from South African artists Usha Seejarim and Mmangaliso Nzuza, lean into the newfound volume. Seejarim is showcasing wall-based and sculptural works composed of meticulously repeated household items (clothespins, broom handles, scrubbing brushes) assembled into intricate compositions that plumb the expectations placed on women with sly subversion. In several works, clothespin surfaces bear scar-like markings, suggesting how harm can embed itself in everyday routines. “She’s a remarkable artist with a considered career and a real sense of mischievousness,” Trevyn says. “There’s wit and sensuality in the pieces.”

Nzuza, meanwhile, orchestrates psychologically charged paintings of Cubist-inspired characters reflective of his inner world. Each canvas depicts angular figures fractured and reassembled into evocations of early Cubism but distinguished by the deeply personal narratives imbued within. His lush imagery gestures toward the Western canon, Black fashion, and the meditative stillness of his homeland. “There’s a sense of carrying my influences, community, and narratives with me and seeing how they resonate,” Nzuza says. “Presenting in New York with Southern Guild feels like an extension of that, but with a greater sense of surety this time around.” 

The new location places the gallery’s roster within closer reach of a much more concentrated network of collectors and institutions. “It feels like we’ve given our artists the opportunity to be right in the heart of everything,” Trevyn says. “The accessibility to a broad audience is going to be life-changing for them.” That proximity extends beyond sales, offering greater visibility and momentum that can strengthen artists’ practices while positioning the gallery to attract new voices. She likens the move to graduating: “We’re in Southern Guild’s tenth year, so this is looking ahead to the next ten years.”

The program ahead reflects that sensibility—and throws some curveballs. In May, Chloë Chiasson will debut oversized, three-dimensional paintings alongside a monumental “memorabilia box” inspired by a shoebox of personal keepsakes, scaled to theatrical effect beneath the gallery’s soaring ceilings. June will bring a group exhibition centered on sports timed to the World Cup final. In September, expect a presentation of large-scale paintings by Roméo Mivekannin, who reworks historical compositions by the likes of Rembrandt and John Singer Sargent by inserting his own portrait at their center. 

Despite the expanding program, Trevyn remains steadfast about the gallery’s direction as it ventures into a more demanding market. “That includes a strong sense of community, a belief in cultural exchange, and a focus on artists who engage with larger human questions,” she elaborates. “We don’t want to adopt a different identity because we’re in New York. We want to carry forward a way of working that creates a place where people come to learn and connect.” 

Much of that conviction draws strength from the Los Angeles chapter, whose success helped propel the gallery onto the international stage and affirmed an appetite for its approach among collectors and institutions. “California gave us the space to listen, to gather, and to understand how Southern Guild’s South African foundation could meaningfully enter the American cultural landscape,” explains gallery director Andréa Delph, who will relocate to head up the New York location.

After the warm reception of opening night, Trevyn doesn’t anticipate a spur-of-the-moment move anytime soon. She’s in great company, with peers Twenty First, R & Company, and Jack Shainman around the corner. “Our Cape Town campus allows us to support artists in producing ambitious pieces, and the Tribeca gallery gives us the platform to present them properly,” she says. “We’re fully invested in making this work.” 

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Spring Issue under the headline “Guilded Age.” Subscribe to the magazine.